This Is Real Life
by Artycomicfangirl
Summary: <html><head></head>Mia has lived in ThneedVille her whole life and has seen it change from a wonderful and beautiful place full of Truffla trees, to a wasteland beyond the town walls where every tree and seed was all gone. She tells a story of her past through her eyes years ago when she was a young woman, about where it all began and how she came to meet the Once-ler, who she will never forget</html>
1. The Story Begins

ThneedVille is such a wonderful place…. It's full of interesting people to meet and full of mysterious things just waiting to be discovered, but one of the most treasured beauties that ThneedVille has in the palm of its hand, are the Truffla trees. The Truffla trees are magnificent tall trees! Some people might say that the trunk of the tree looks almost similar to a chocolate candy cane and the top part of the tree is said to be so fluffy and soft that if you decided to climb up the tree yourself to the canopy, you would be asleep in a matter of minutes!

Even though ThneedVille is a friendly and beautiful community now… there was a time many years ago, when ThneedVille's natural beauty had been lost. The Trees had been chopped down to make and invention from the town's namesake, the Thneed. Although the invention was a success, it was draining away all the life from not just the trees, but a large part of the nature of ThneedVilled. When the last tree had been chopped down… it was all gone… The trees could not be grown back to life, because the seeds were all gone as well. The animals had left, the air was polluted and there wasn't a single blade of fresh green grass anywhere. It seemed like all hope for the trees, was gone forever… Then everything fell apart from there and ThneedVille changed dramatically…

I have lived half of my life surrounded with fake, plastic trees and nature. The trees were manufactured in factories and there was no signs of life from true nature… I remember hating it so much… I missed the truffla trees and I considered moving away… but I wanted to stay, so I could find a way to bring the trees back.

And this was all started from once person… a person who I loved with all of my heart, but whose dangerous greed for fame and fortune, changed him into someone who I no longer knew anymore.

I am going to tell you my side of the story now… the story from where it all began before the disaster happened when I was a young woman, and how one young boy, brought hope back to ThneedVille with one single Truffla tree seed…

Oh, How silly! I was so caught up into telling you my story, I seemed to have forgotten to introduce myself... such a forgetful old mind I have!

My Name… is Ms Mia Redwood


	2. Miss Mia Redwood

Rays of sunlight seeped through a cream coloured curtains and continued to stretch over a single sized bed. The light continued to flow throughout the room until it reached a young woman's face with a warm gentle touch. The woman stirred and reached out to cover her face from the light as she slowly sat up. As if on cue, the small analog clock on her bedside table rang out and she quickly reached out press the button. The girl finally got out of bed and opened the curtains. As she looked out the windows, she smiled. The view was such a sight for sore eyes, a landscape of rolling hills, rivers and small streams graced the land, but the thing that made everything even better was the sight of the truffla trees.

"What a great way to start the morning! " She said to herself. As she turned away from the window, she quickly looked at her clock and gasped in realization.

"What!? Already? Oh gosh! I'm late! "She panicked as she ran around the room to find her clothes, her signature green dress, a flower brooch, and her father's old blue scarf.

Half an hour later, the young woman quickly ran out of her home with a triangle of toasted jam sandwich in her mouth. She ran to the side of her house and pulled out her pink, vintage basket bike and was about to set off when she remembered something. She quickly got off her bike, went back inside her house and came back out a few seconds later with a small watering can. She ran back outside at the front of her house and found what she was looking for, a small truffla tree sapling. She quickly watered the tree before hopping back onto her bike and finally setting off, following the truffla forest path which lead to a nearby town.

The girl bursted through the café doors, quickly running to an apron hook and taking an orange apron. She started fumbling through her strap purse to the key to her locker to put her belongings in. She was so busy panicking and running around that she didn't see someone sneaking up on her.

"Hey Mia! " The person greeted her while putting a hand to her shoulder, which gave the poor blonde a huge shock.

"Ah! Sherry! You scared me!"

"Mia, what's wrong? Why are you in such a rush? "The other woman asked, confused.

"Well um, ah, you see, I woke up really late and I just have to get here and get to work before the boss..." Mia started to trail off as she started to look around the café's locker room.

"Um… Sherry? Where is everyone?" She questioned. Her workmate started giggling.

"They're... not here… yet "She managed between giggles.

"What? What are you talking about? Aren't they late as well?" Mia asked, she was really confused now.

"Mia… it's only 6'o clock…" Her friend stated, still trying to control herself.

"No it isn't! I checked my clock at home and it says it was six thirty… "Mia stopped as her eyes landed on her watch, which read 6:00 " "Oh… I must have set up the wrong time on my clock…" was all she said as her workmate finally bursted into laughter, with an embarrassed and blushing Mia next to her.

"Sherry! I was in a rush!" She defended.

"Ok, Ok… "Sherry's laughter started to die down "C'mon, let's get everything prepared before everyone else arrives! " She announced with enthusiasm.

Mia Redwood, a young woman with golden blonde hair, always tied up in a high ponytail and light blue eyes, as her grandma like to say "As shining and clear as the sky on a lovely day", lives on her own in the truffla forest located near a friendly town and goes there from Monday to Thursday to work four times a week and buy her essentials. Well, she wasn't exactly alone… she has friends who live in the forest too, the animals. A small brown fuzzy bear, who she named Fuzz had been her friend since he was a cub and when she was just a little girl living with her father. She was friends with many other animals in the forest as well, but that's just another story. The young woman had been working hard all morning and but she didn't mind, really. She just really likes her job and she is doing her best.

"Hello! May I take your order?" She asked a family of five with a gentle smile.

"Yes, could I order-", the mother of the family started to speak when her son and daughter cut in. " Three glasses of pink lemonade and three Schlopps with a cherry on top!" they announced as the whole family laughed. "Oh…Please Miss…" The little girl added, embarrassed that she has forgotten to say please, which made Mia giggle and smiled. "Not a problem! Three glasses of pink lemonade and three Schlopps with a cherry on top coming right up!" She announced happily. Mia went up to the counter to hand in her order to the chef.

"Wow! It's sure busy in here today!" She told the chef called Chris.

"That ain't nothin! Once, there was this really famous Diva who was passing through this town and decided to come to this place to eat, Man! You should have seen the amount of people here! We were almost out of tables!

"Yeah, I was there you know!" Mia laughed. "Anyway, here's the order for table 13!" Chris announced as he handed Mia a tray full of food and drinks. "Thanks!" She said before walking off.

Ma had continued to work hard all afternoon. She had been busy attending to customers and walking in and out of the counter with full trays of food. Before she knew it, it was already closing time.

"Well! It's time to close up shop! You all have worked hard today and I am proud of all of you! Have a pleasant weekend!" The boss announced before sending everyone off to go home. Mia had put on a bright bike light on her bike and had set off.

When Mia had arrived home, she was so tired and was glad that it was night time. She took a quick shower, made herself some warm milk and decided to have a few moments of peace while looking out her window from her window chair. She sighed as she closed her eyes and drank in the peaceful atmosphere that the night had to offer. The moon was shining as bright as ever, its moonlight touching the flowing river. She could hear the river flowing gently and the fish singing a night time lullaby… "Is that Fuzz and his friends down there?" she thought as she smiled. She loved nights like this, the only time when she can have a completely quiet and calm moment to herself. After a while of looking at the window, her smile started to fade and she fixed her gaze at starry night the sky.

"Hi dad…" She whispered.

Nobody answered, but she wasn't expecting one.

"I'm doing fine… how about you?" Mia asked, she was received the same silence.

"Well… we've made good progress at the café today!" She responded and tried to sound as cheerful as possible and gave out a small laugh, but she trailed off.

"I hope you're doing fine…" She started to say and a tear slid down her cheek.

"Well… ok then… goodnight Dad…" She said as she got up and closed the window and curtains. She slid under the blankets on her bed and closed her eyes, leaving her finished up of warm milk on her bedside table.

Mia had slept in the next morning. As she got up and made herself some breakfast, consisting of her favorite cereal, she began to think about what she was going to do today. She thought she heard a loud boom earlier, but she immediately brushed the sound off and classified it as a figment of her imagination. When she finished her breakfast, she had finally decided that she was just going to relax and explore the Truffla forest.

Mia went out for a walk. She found a few things on her stroll, a special stone and a couple of Truffla seeds. Those seeds would be useful for planting some more trees. She was hoping to hang out with her animal friends, but she didn't see any critters anywhere.

"That's weird… where is everyone?" She wondered and looked around, and she suddenly spotted a school of fish walking out of the river and heading towards somewhere. It seemed liked that they wanted to get a better view of something. Mia went up to the school of fish to find some answers.

"Um… hey, where are all the others?" She asked. One of the fish pointed to a direction while babbling and Mia nodded as she headed for that direction, straight through the forest.

As she got closer to the area, Mia could see most of the animals in the forest all grouped together. Near the commotion, she could hear some yelling, sounds of someone hammering and… is that a giant movable caravan house? Mia the heard a twang, like the sound of a rope or string snapping. Hold on, it looks like a part of it is about to fall over.

As she got nearer, she could make out some words of the commotion.

"Whoa! What are you- what? Hey! Mustache! Will you stop that!?" The voice of a young man yelled. Mia could hear another twang.

"What's your deal old man!?" The same voice yelled, but he sounded more annoyed now.

"Time for you to go! Beanpole!" A different voice retorted. Wait, she knew that voice…

"What is going on here?" she questioned as she pushed away some bushes and went past the group of animals.


	3. The Meeting

Previously….

"Whoa! What are you- what? Hey! Mustache! Will you stop that!?" The voice of a young man yelled. Mia could hear another twang.

"What's your deal old man!?" The same voice yelled, but he sounded more annoyed now.

"Time for you to go! Beanpole!" A different voice retorted. Wait, she knew that voice…

"What is going on here?" she questioned as she pushed away some bushes and went past the group of animals.

What Mia had saw next, made her to start thinking that maybe she had put a bit too much sugar in her tea at breakfast, or that she could actually still be in her bed and having a weird dream.

Right in front of her was a young, black haired man wearing a vest and a hat running around his caravan house and hammering ropes tied to stakes into the ground, but with every stake that he hammered back into the ground, a small orange furry creature would pull one of the stakes out again, making the man yell in frustration. Somehow, one thing led to another and a small bear cub ended up being tied to the rope. The young man grabbed it and was about to hammer the poor bear cub when he was stopped by the orange creature.

"Stop right there! Stop It!" The orange creature exclaimed as he went over to pick up and untie the little bear from the rope, who gave out a sigh of relief. "So you'd hammer one of nature's innocent creatures!" He pointed out as he ruffled the cub's fur and let him go.

"What!? No! I-I would never hit this little guy!" The young man defended before coming up with a retort "You on the other hand, I will gladly pound you and your mustache into the ground!" The orange creature was having none of it.

"Behold! The intruder and his violent ways!" He announced to the increasing audience of animals, "Shame on you! For shame!" He said finally, the other creatures were nodding in agreement and the young man had a stunned look on his face. It was quite a scene.

"Okay, somebody has to stop this before it gets out of hand…" Mia thought to herself as she took a few steps forward and gently cleared her throat to get their attention.

"Um… excuse me, Guardian of the forest? I don't mean to butt in… but is there a problem here?" She tried to sound as polite and gentle as possible, so she wouldn't intimidate the two. The two quickly spun around with a startled look on their faces. It was clear to say that they never realized the young woman was there in the first place.

"Uh, e-er w-wha? Me?" The young man stuttered nervously, not knowing to do.

"Uh…" The Lorax stared at the girl, he was really not expecting that, but he shook his head to clear his mind. "Mia! Ah… how long have you been here?" He asked curiously. Seeing that the situation has calmed down a bit, she clasped her hands behind her back and gave a slightly teasing smile.

"Long enough to witness the two of you running around the movable caravan house and trying to pull it down… while making yourselves look like complete goofballs…" She said jokingly as some of the animals tried to hold in their giggles. The young man looked a bit flustered from being caught in the act. Mia remembered what she was going to say and she tried her best to suppress some giggles.

"As I was saying… what exactly is going on here?" She asked again. The young man was about to say something when the Lorax cut in.

"This intruder is trying to chop down the trees! He's hurting them! And that's not all! He almost hammered an innocent creature!" He explained.

"Aw, really? I'm sure he doesn't mean to hurt anyone? Besides, don't you think that there is a good reason why he needs to chop down any trees?" She tried to defend the young man.

"Thank you! You see! Here's somebody who understands what I'm doing!" The man exclaimed proudly. "Uh… well… I actually don't know what you were planning on doing, but ok then…" Mia thought. She was so caught up into her mind that she didn't realize the man walking up to her and holding out a green, garden gloved hand to her, while ignoring the Lorax's protests.

"Hey! I'm Once-ler! Nice to meet you!" He said with a smile. Mia jumped a little and shook out her thoughts before taking her hands in his and shaking it. "Ah… so his name is Once-ler… what a, er unique name… wow ok, his smile has pretty shiny teeth…" She thought curiously.

"Um… I'm Mia Redwood, and it's nice to meet you too!" She was unsure and hesitant of this man at first, but his friendly looking expression seemed to have put her at ease. Once-ler had been busy paying attention to the new aqquaintance that he had completely forgot with the Lorax and the argument that was formed minutes ago. The Lorax had huffed and walked right up to Once-ler and tugged on the fabric on his pants to get his attention.

"Hey! You still need to stop chopping down trees and leave this place, Beanpole!" He added in annoyance. Once-ler had just about enough with this slightly annoying creature and turned away from the girl to give the Lorax a piece of his mind.

"Alright, you know what? That's it! You listen to me you furry meatloaf!" He pointed right at the Lorax's face, "I'm gonna chop down as many trees as I need! Ok? News Flash! Not going anywhere!" He finally said as he walked towards his house, accidentally bumping into Mia and making her trip, but he quickly caught her hand before she fell over.

"Woah! Uh, sorry about that! I didn't mean it!" He said in apology and smiled sheepishly before turning his gaze towards the Lorax and giving him a 'you better not Annoy me or else!' Look.

"End of Story!" He finally said and blew a raspberry at the Lorax and slamming the door right in his face. Mia was stunned.

"Wow... what just happened?"


	4. A Truffaliffic Plan

-The Once-ler's POV-

"End of Story!" i yelled angrily at the Lorax and slamming the door right in his face. Geez, who does that guy think he was!? The tree police?

"Then you leave me no choice…" I heard a voice said. What the?

I turned around…and found the Lorax leaning against the wall on a table and yelped a bit… ok, a bit was an understatement, but seriously!? How did he get in here?!" I watched him suspiciously as he leap off the table with a soft thud and a serious expression on his face. He raised a hand above him mysteriously and started to speak. He kinda sounded like a magician chanting a spell… or a curse…

"If you're not gone by the time the sun sets on this valley, all the forces of nature will be unleashed upon you, and curse you until the end of your days!" He chanted.

"Uh…" I stared at him, feeling kinda creeped out, but he continued on.

"You have been warned…" He finally says as he moved back to the door to open it but since he was so short, he tried jumping to open the door, but he couldn't really reach it anyway. I almost face-palmed at this, but I held back.

"Wow… Guardian of the forest huh?" I thought sarcastically as I reached over to open the door for him.

"Thanks…" he commented, "No problem…" I replied back.

"You have been warned…" he tried again. I sighed in exhaustion and closed the door.

-Regular POV-

Throughout the whole argument and weird happenings going on, Mia was sitting outside on a rock the whole time, waiting for the Lorax to come out. She could hear muffled voices inside the caravan house, but she couldn't really hear exactly what they were saying. She was busy examining a small flower when she heard the door open and quickly sat up straight. She saw the Lorax walk out and she sighed in relief.

"Um… So… how did it go?" She asked nervously, ready for whatever answer she was expecting.

"Well, that little speech I gave out should teach him a lesson… for now…" he replied. Mia was kind of confused. "He sounded like he was… planning something…" She thought, but she brushed away those thoughts and told herself she was imagining things.

"Well, I'm off to go have a walk, bye guys!" Mia declared to the remaining animals and stood up to walk away. Just as she was a few metres away from the caravan house, she started to hear footsteps running towards her.

"Hey Miss! W-wait! Hold up!" Mia spun around to see Once-ler running towards her. When he finally reached her, he stopped to catch a few breaths before brushing the dust of his clothes and standed up straight.

"Hey look, I'm sorry that you had to see and hear that, really I am! It's just, I only met that guy today, and he's already getting on my nerves!" He stated. Mia couldn't help but feel sympathy for the man.

"It's Ok, that's the Lorax for you! He can get on anyone's nerves, but he's actually really caring you know…" She commented.

"Heh yeah, I don't know about that…" He whispered to himself. Mia was going to leave again, but he stopped her.

"Wait! Uh… ok, this is going to sound weird, but do you want something to eat or drink maybe? I can make some hot chocolate and I have marshmallows too… or we can have marshmallows in hot chocolate!" He announced, his happy personality starting to shine through again. Mia was a bit unsure and was about to politely refuse, but Once-ler had cut in.

"Please? It's the least I can do to apologize…" He said while scratching the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. Mia laughed at his expression. How could she say no to someone who was trying to be an adorable goof to make her stay?

"Ok, fine… I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay for a while…" She replied with a sigh and watched his reaction, his big smile returning.

"Great! Come on in!" He exclaimed and opened the door for her.

"Wait, so you live on your own in this forest? Not near it, but actually in it? Really?" Once-ler questioned as he gave Mia a mug of hot chocolate and added three marshmallows to it.

"Yeah! I live in a wooden house just down the river! There's a forest path connecting my home to the nearby town so that I don't get lost on the way while I ride my bike there…" Mia replied before taking a sip of hot chocolate.

"So, where do your mum and dad live then?"

"Well, my mum lives with my cousin in the nearby town, and my dad…" Mia's voice trailed on at the mention of her father and held her mud a little tightly. Once-ler seemed to notice that the subject about her family, especially her father was making her feel uncomfortable, so he quickly changed the subject.

"Um, Ok… Aha! How come the Lorax is not annoyed at you for staying here at the forest?" He asked curiously. From the first time he saw this girl, he noticed that the Lorax didn't have any harsh feelings to Mia for living in the forest, especially in a house made from Truffla tree wood that she supposedly had help to build.

"I promised the guardian of the forest that with every tree that was chopped down, I would plant in a new seedling and let it grow, so that no trees would die off…" She answered. Once-ler had a weird feeling about that answer, like whatever she was saying wasn't entirely true...

The two talked throughout the whole afternoon, taking sips of their hot chocolates from time to time, until Mia finally stood up.

"It's been nice staying here, but it's getting quite late and I really have to go home…" She announced and walked out the door but before closing it behind her, she turned back to face him, a soft smile appearing on her features.

"Thank you for inviting me here, It was really nice to get to know you…"

"No problem…" was Once-ler's only reply as he watched her leave. He realized that his caravan house felt a little empty without the new company, but he shrugged it off and found himself letting out a big yawn.

"Well! Time to get some shut eye…" He announced to himself and trudged upstairs to his room. After taking a shower, cleaning his teeth and changing into his pyjamas, he hopped right into bed and sighed.

"Man… I am so tired right now…" he thought and found his eyes starting to close.

"This day wasn't so bad after all, I think I even made a new friend!" were his last thoughts before sleep overtook him.

The night was quiet and calm and most of the animals had gone to sleep, but there was a certain guardian of the forest sitting on top of a Truffla and looking through the caravan house through his binoculars.

"Hm… so kid…" The Lorax turned to his bear cub companion sitting next to him, "How would you like to be an honorary Lorax?" He questioned with humour hinted. The bear cub giggled and nodded as the Lorax dove back down into the tree, with the cub following suit.


	5. River Chase

Previously…

The night was quiet and calm and most of the animals had gone to sleep, but there was a certain guardian of the forest sitting on top of a Truffla and looking through the caravan house through his binoculars.

"Hm… so kid…" The Lorax turned to his bear cub companion sitting next to him, "How would you like to be an honorary Lorax?" He questioned with humour hinted. The bear cub giggled and nodded as the Lorax dove back down into the tree, with the cub following suit.

* * *

><p>Once-ler was sleeping soundly in his bed. He was in such a deep slumber that he didn't hear his front door open. A group of bears came in, picked up his bed and started to carry it through the door, but they struggled a bit halfway.<p>

"Look at that! What, ugh! Who taught you guys how to steal a bed!?" The Lorax exclaimed with annoyance. The bed would not fit through the door, but the bears continued to try and push through anyway.

The Lorax and his team of helpers of operation 'Get rid of tree chopping Beanpole' had resorted to carry the sleeping Once-ler and his bed out the window. It was quite a tricky process, but they finally pushed the bed out the window and the Lorax chuckled evilly. This plan was definitely going smoothly. He turned to look beside him that Once-ler's donkey had been watching them the whole time. To make sure that it would keep quiet, the Lorax had fed him one apple.

The Lorax and his team crept through the the truffle forest, sneaking under the pale moonlight where only their silhouettes were present and pausing from time to time to check the surrounding area for witnesses. Of course, the fish had to sing a secret agent theme to set the mood. The bears were still following him and carrying the bed with Once-ler snug inside. Soon, the Lorax and his team were already at the edge of the river, ready to execute the final stage of his plan.

"Ok, nice and easy…" He reassured the fishes as they slowly eased the bed into the river. Just like what they planned, the bed floated gently on the surface of the water. Before they knew it, the bed was already setting sail on its course down the river, and Once-ler was still asleep.

"Nice work you guys! Couldn't have done it without ya!" He commented as the animals started ahead at the floating bed. Suddenly, the Lorax could see a ball of brown fluff pop out from behind the bed frame from faraway.

Oh no… oh no, no, no…

"You got to be kidding me…" The Lorax was utterly stunned, yet controlling the urge to face-palm at the same time. "Can he swim?" He asked the animals in panic. A bear next to him shook his head.

"Of course he can't swim!" He exclaimed to himself in frustration. "Hang on pipsqueak! I'm coming to get ya!" he called out to the bear cub and the team started run down the river, following the floating bed down the river.

"Fishes! Stop that bed!" He called out. The fishes did what they could to stop the bed or at least slow it down, but it was no use and they ended up pulling the blanket right of the bed. The Lorax could see Once-ler unconsciously shivered from the loss of warmth, and pulling the bear cub towards him and hugging it like an actual teddy bear.

Up ahead, the Lorax could see a really tall Truffula tree. As he got closer, he noticed how the tree was bended in such a way that it was only a few metres away from touching the river. A plan new plan quickly formed in his mind as he turned to the group of bears and instructed them to climb up the tree.

"Quick! Go! Go! Go! Jump! Jump!" he yelled while the bears climbed to the very top of the tree and formed a rope system. The tree started to sag down from the new weight, but it wasn't enough.

"Ugh! Now what!?" The Lorax looked around for any more volunteers, until his eyes laid on one of the larger bears of the group, who was still stuffing his face with marshmallows. The bear started back at the forest guardian and quickly shook his head as its mind clicked in realization on what he was about to do.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile… -Mia's POV-<p>

"Huh!? What!?" I woke up with a jolt. While I was sleeping, I heard someone yelling from outside. Usually I would brush it off as just being a dream, but the voice sounded so… real. I tried to recall what the voice had yelled out, but I only heard fragments of it.

"Something about… some fishes… and a bed…" I pondered on the thought, but i eventually gave up and decided to think about it in the morning. I tried to go back to sleep again, but somehow, I couldn't. Something was off… my instincts were telling me to go check out the window, like something bad was actually happening. I realized that if I don't get up to comply with my instincts, it's just going to keep me up all night and I wouldn't get a good sleep. Giving in, I sighed and got up from my warm bed to look out the window.

I saw the guardian of the forest running down the river with his team of animals. "He must be up to his crazy antics again…" I thought, but then my eyes started to follow another object that was down the river.

I gasped and my eyes grew wide.

Once-ler was down at the river, but that's not the worst part. The worst part was that he was literally down at the river, floating right on top of it and an expression of extreme panic on his face. I have lived in this forest for nearly my whole life and I knew where that river lead to.

"Oh no…" I whispered in horror at the realization of the situation. I had no time to change clothes, so I quickly grabbed my sleeping robe and bolted down the stairs and out the door.

* * *

><p>-Regular POV-<p>

Once-ler was in a dangerous state of panic. One moment, he was lying snug in his bed at his caravan house and then… well, he was still on his bed, except that his bed was floating down a fast moving river. His thoughts were interrupted by the Lorax calling out something to him.

"Hey! You go trouble! And it's coming up fast!" he said and pointed to the direction ahead of him. Once-ler turned to the Lorax's direction and saw right up ahead and a network of jagged rocks poking in all directions. That was when his utter confusion brewed up into a huge state of panic and he yelled in fear and braced himself against his bed for the impact.

"Hold on Once-ler! We're coming to get you!" Once-ler heard a feminine voice and looked to the side. He could see Mia running along with the Lorax with a worried expression on her face, but just the sight of her made him calm down a little.

Then he remembered… he was not dreaming and he was still in the river.

Everything happened so fast that before she knew it, Mia was racing along with the Lorax. She had no time to question the situation until now, but she had to know, she had to know about the mess that she had just gotten herself involved in.

"What in truffla trees and butterfly milk is going on!?" She questioned out loud to the Lorax. "What did you do!?"

"I-I was just going to give Beanpole a free nightly cruise around the forest, just sending him off on a long all round tour!" The Lorax tried to shed light to the situation and cover it up, but Mia already knew straight off that he was not telling the truth.

"Why would you did this!? What were you thinking!? This is even worse than you carrying my dad's bed up a truffla tree and leaving him there until morning! He told me that story when I was little you know! He also got a black eye from waking up from his bed, only to walk right off a tree!"

"That was different! I needed to teach him a lesson to stop using the wood to make the house at the time!"

"Different!? Really!?" Mia shot back, with both panic and anger mixed into her. She could not believe what she was hearing from the Lorax. She saw that Once-ler had finally avoided the rocks, sighing in relief that his moment of danger was over, but she knew all too well and that it was far from over.

Once-ler tried to do anything to stop the bed, even resorting to using a pillow as a paddle to pull him back to shore, even though he knew that doing that wasn't going to work anyway. As the horizon of the waterfall was coming closer, he starting sobbing between prayers.

"This is it… Dying by falling off a waterfall in a forest…" He thought and prepared to accept his cruel fate, hugging the bear cub at the same time.

Everything seemed too happened so fast. The last thing he saw was a huge boulder falling onto his bed and flipping him up millions of metres into the air while he screamed, then the ground rushed up to meet him… and everything turned black.

* * *

><p>Mia felt like she was about to cry. She was sitting right next to Once-ler, watching the young man lying there on the ground, not moving at all while the Lorax tried to wake him up. She tried to help, but there was nothing that she could do but just sit and watch.<p>

"No… it can't be… I only just met him yesterday… but he was so nice to me…" She whispered to herself, but just saying that made tears stream down her face and closed her eyes. She didn't realize that the Lorax had heard every word and you could have sworn that a flash of guiltiness had passed over his face, but was later replaced by a look of seriousness. The Lorax grabbed two bear cubs nearby him and started to rub their furry backs together, creating a spark of electricity.

"Clear!" He shouted and Mia flinched and covered her face with her hands as he shoved the bear cubs right on top of his chest area and awaking the unconscious young man. Mia was so happy and relieved that her new friend was alright that without thinking, she had leaned forward and hugged him on the spot, with happy tears now streaming down her face.

* * *

><p>-Once-ler's POV-<p>

Everything was black. Everywhere I look, there was just this never ending blackness that covered everything. Suddenly, I started to see a bright light shining above me.

"Oh no… so this is really it huh…" I whispered, feeling creeped out. I was heading towards the light, I could feel the sun's warmth. Then suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my heart and the light abruptly disappeared and I woke up to a completely different surrounding. I looked around and realized that I was back in the Truffla forest at night, except I wasn't floating towards that horror of a waterfall and that I am now sitting up on a land area near the river with animals surrounding me.

I didn't get a chance to take in the situation enough when a blur of something, or someone came up and wrapped me in an embrace. I silently tried to get a good look at the 'someone'. This 'someone' smelled like rose flower shampoo and it was… was… wow, man, how can I put it in words? Well, how about… nice… no, that's not it… it made me feel calm and a warm feeling welled up inside me. So hard to describe it. Then I saw that the person had long golden hair and I stiffened and my eyes grew wide in realization.

"M-M-Mia…. Mia…Mia is… Mia is hugging m-"

"Oh my gosh… I was so worried! I thought you were a goner for sure!" I could hear she was crying because of the way she chocked a bit while talking. Somehow, this gave another pain in my heart, but not the sharp, but more like… the pain you get when you are sad…

Um, right, where was I again? Oh yeah…

"I-I was heading out into the light! But you pulled me right back and here I am! you all saved my life!" I exclaimed, my normal personality returning as I quickly gave Mia a quick hug back, then turning around to the Lorax and picking him up and hugging him too.

"Uh yeah, yeah, it's not that big a deal…" He commented.

"What!? It is a big deal! I almost went over that waterfall!" I giddily stated as I hugged the Lorax even tighter.

Then….

"Hehe… w-wait… my bed in the river, how did my bed get in the river?" I finally asked the question that I haven't even realized about yet.

"Uh… about that…actually um….Iputyourbedintheriver..." He replied.

….

Hold on…

Wait…

WHAT?

I was having trouble processing this that I didn't realize that I had dropped him from my hands.

"I-I didn't mean you any harm! I just wanted to calmly float you away!" He started to say and I started to feel anger rising in me, so I stood up and walked away. As I was about to leave, I looked at Mia, but she looked away in shame.

Suddenly I felt a little guilty, but I told myself to keep walking.

"Look, everyone here needs the trees! And you're chopping them down! So… we got a big problem!" He explained. I was lost for words, but then I saw a little bear cub walking up to me and lightly tugging on my pyjama pants, with a look of adoration on its face. I sighed and kneeled down to pick up the bear cub.

"Alright, look… I hereby swear that I will NEVER chop down another tree…" I put the bear cub down and put one hand in the air and another to my heart, "I promise!" I declared.

"Thankyou… but I'm gonna keep my eye on you!"

"Good! Now, I got a big day tomorrow! Also I'm gonna get some sleep…" I said with a yawn as I walked off, but it seemed like sleep was already on to me.

"Right after I find my bed…" I said as I back in the other direction.

The animals have gone back to bed, but I was still searching for mine. As I was looking behind a rock, I heard soft footsteps padding on the grass. I spun around to see Mia running after me. When she finally was in front of me, I could see that her guilty expression was still on her face.

"Hey…"

"Hey…" I replied back.

"Look… I am so sorry about that… I-I was looking out my house when I saw you in the river and I-I ran out to help you! B-but you were heading straight for a waterfall! I didn't know what to do! I just…" Mia started to ramble when Once-ler cut in.

"Nah, its ok… doesn't matter anyway…" I brushed it off and continued searching for my bed, but she quickly grabbed my hand. I jumped a little at the sudden contact, but I settled down from the warm fuzzy feeling that was spreading inside me. Somehow, this made me remember when Mia looked away when I looked at her, making me feel guilty all over again.

"No… I really do mean it… I thought you were going to… g-going to…" I can hear Mia starting to tear up again, so I turned around and took both of her hands in mine reassuringly.

"Hey… it's ok… if I made you feel sad, then I'm sorry… but I'm here now, so everything is ok now, right?" I said and tried to force a smile to make her feel better, but I found myself really smiling when she wiped her eyes and gave out her own small smile.

"Right…" She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. I decided to try and lighten up the mood a bit more.

"Sooo… could you help me find my bed?" I asked. At this question, Mia started to laugh gently and open her eyes again, which were now shining again. I somehow felt really happy when she smiled at me.

"Sure, what are friends for?" She replied back happily.

Even if the two spent nearly all night searching for Once-ler's bed, it didn't matter to them because both of them because they had each other for company.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys! if you are all wondering what Mia actually looks like, I drew her here! artLorax-OC-Mia-movie-Style-489013456 I tried to draw Mia in the Lorax Movie style, but it was so hard! XP**

**anyway! I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)**


	6. Operation Selling Thneeds! Begins!

Previously…

"Sooo… could you help me find my bed?" I asked. At this question, Mia started to laugh gently and open her eyes again, which were now shining again. I somehow felt really happy when she smiled at me.

"Sure, what are friends for?" She replied back.

Even if the two spent nearly all night searching for Once-ler's bed, it didn't matter to them because both of them because they had each other for company.

* * *

><p>The sun was rising over the truffla forest, signaling another new day, with the fishes climbing up on top of the trees and crowing like roosters for emphasis.<p>

Despite the events of last night, Once-ler was able to find his bed again with the help of Mia and still had enough of nighttime leftover to get a good sleep. He was drifting in an out of his slumber, but he heard a loud snoring noise. Once-ler had dismissed the sound as a figment of his ' after sleep ' imagination and rolled over to the other side of his bed.

Only to his surprise, he was greeted by the guardian of the forest, who was sleeping RIGHT in his bed, RIGHT next to him and was snoring so loud, Once-ler thought it sounded almost like a chainsaw.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" He quickly sat up straight and yelled in fear, but this only made the Lorax wake up. What Once-ler did not expect was the Lorax to quickly act on his reflexes and punched him right in the face.

"OW! Uh, Ok-"Geez, talk about a rude wakeup call. "Uh, what are you-"He was about to ask, but as his eyes scanned across his room, he had to rephrase the words. "Question… What are they doing here?"

He was met with the sight of nearly half of the forest's animals were all in his caravan house. He saw a few bears sleeping on the end of his bed, a few on tables and chairs, some on the floor and a couple of fishes sleeping in his cooking pots, cups and bowls. He also witnessed one of the bear cubs falling of his bed.

"Ok, and if I may ask… WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" He turned and yelled angrily at the Lorax.

"heh heh…well, after the incident last night… I found one of your socks and came here to return it!" The guardian of the forest smiled sheepishly. Once-ler was staring at the Lorax with un-amusement written all over his face and the Lorax continued. "But when we got here, you were sleeping…" Once-ler had missed that sentence for a moment as a result of trying to wipe drool off his face that came from a bear sleeping on top of the lights above him.

"Uh yeah, and sleeping is the body's way of telling other people to go away…" He replied sarcastically.

"I know! But you looked soooo cozy!" The Lorax commented. "And it was cold outside! We just fell asleep! No harm done!" He said cheerfully, but Once-ler was having none of it. He just woke up and he was already experiencing signs of grumpiness, and it wasn't from waking up from the wrong side of the bed.

"No harm done? No harm done!? Ughh… Ok…" Once-ler was on the verge of snapping, but he had managed to calm himself down. He turned to get a cup of water to drink when he was met with fishes in the cups and giving them self a bath.

"Uh, Ok, I put my lips on those!" He exclaimed, "Well, I used to anyway…" he reasoned. He turned around and found a bird sitting on top of a bowl and a few seconds later, he heard a loud pop and the bird stood up, revealing a newly laid egg.

"Ew! Did you just-? In my bowl!?" Once-ler exclaimed in disgust as the birds high-fived each other and the other animals clapped at his reaction. Without realizing, he helplessly slid down onto the floor and sat there, stunned.

"Heh, why do you have one of these? You don't even have a mustache!" The Lorax had walked past, with a toothbrush in his hand and threw it aside, which Once-ler had picked up. On close examination, could see tufts of the Lorax's mustache stuck in his toothbrush and cringed in disgust. He heard a knock on the door and with a sigh, he slowly got up and trudged towards the door while grumbling in annoyance.

"First the bed in the river, now this! Whatever creature is right behind this door, I'm going to give him a piece of my mi- Huh? Oh! Hey Mia!" All of his angry thoughts disappeared as soon as he saw the smiling, young blonde woman and he quickly forced a smile to cover up the situation.

"Hey!" She replied cheerfully, "I just made some special breakfast muffins this morning and I thought you might like some with your breakfast… oh…" Mia had a strange look on her face as she peered into Once-ler's house and saw the furry chaos that was erupting inside. "Need help?" she asked with a look of sympathy on her face and Once-ler couldn't reject the offer, so he let her inside, blushing with embarrassment and trying ignoring the fact that he was still in his pyjamas. He looked back at the animals everywhere in his room and he could feel his anger rising to the danger point.

THAT was the last straw…

"Ok! That's it!" He bursted out

"What!? I thought we had a deal last night?" The Lorax questioned.

"Yes, I did! And I said I wouldn't chop down any more trees!"

"And I said I was gonna keep an eye on ya!" The Lorax retorted, then giving a quick wave to Mia, who tried to force a smile and slowly waved back. "I'm starving! What's for breakfast?" he questioned suddenly and going off topic. The Lorax turned and opened the fridge, only to be greeted by an odd sight the large bear stuffing himself with a stick of butter. Once-ler just stared while beside him, Mia tried not to gag at the sight.

"Uh… hehe, breakfast is so overrated…" The Lorax chuckled sheepishly and closed the fridge door. Once-ler had tried not to let his anger burst again and he groaned in frustration. He forced himself to just ignore it and brush off the imaginary dust off his pyjamas.

"Ugh…you know what? I got work to do! I gotta go into town, and sell some thneeds!" He declared and starting to take his pyjama top off to change, but he turned around and saw Mia, who was starting to have a faint blush in her cheeks and quickly turned around so that she was not looking at him. She seemed to look even more embarrassed when some of the animals started to giggle to themselves.

"Oh, ah, woops…. Sorry…" he apologized in embarrassment and quickly ran to his bathroom to change. He had silently berated himself for almost forgetting that there was a woman in the house. A few minutes later, Once-ler was all changed and looking ready to go.

"As I was saying, I gotta go into town and sell some thneeds!" he declared again and revealed his invention, which was a misshapen bundle of material made out from the tufts of the truffla trees. The Lorax just stared at the piece of material and then burst into laughter.

"Ho Ho Ho Ho, you chopped down one of my trees, to make that piece of garbage!?" the Lorax retored between peals of laughter. This made Mia to give the Lorax a 'that's not very nice 'look and Once-ler to feel a little offended.

"Garbage? Oh no, Oh no! You do not get it!" He exclaimed, with a hint of joking in his voice. "THIS! Is a revolutionary product that will change the world as we know it?" He announce with great bravado as he went to a nearby table and brushed of some of the bears that were still sleeping on it. "It has a million uses!" He exclaimed with pride. Standing next to the very un-amused Lorax, all Mia could do was to just stand back and stare in awe as she watched Once-ler going around the place and demonstrating here and there for different examples. She started to feel like she was watching a television advertisement.

"Look at this! It's a swimsuit!" Once-ler stated with a big smile as he got the larger bear and tied the thneed around it. The bear gave a little giggle before having the thneed pulled off and being pushed off the table.

"Mud tracks all over your floor by un-invited guests? Well, the thneed sure comes in handy for that!" Once-ler continued, and just to emphasize his point, he used the thneed to wipe the dirty shoe mud tracks that he had supposedly created, then revealing the newly cleaned floor.

"But wait! There's more!" He stated happily. "Thanks to its all natural micro-fibres, the thneed is suuuuper absorbent!" he said while at the same time, shoving the thneed into a glass of water with a fish in it, sucking up all of the remaining water and leaving behind a very confused fish.

"It also works as a hat!" Once-ler finally finished as he shaped the wet material into a headpiece and roughly place it on top of the Lorax. Mia's hand flew up to her mouth and tried to control herself from laughing at the sight of a still un-amused guardian of the forest with a sopping wet piece of material on top of his head, with a few water drops dripping down his furry face and mustache for effect. "Of course you should probably wring it out first…" Once-ler had added and this made Mia burst out laughing. When he heard her gentle laugh, he felt really, really happy and it made him smile, but he didn't know why though…

"G-Go ahead! Knock yourself out!" The Lorax stuttered in annoyance, "But nobody is going to buy that thing! He retorted back.

"Good to know! Well unfortunately, you're not the target market! Weirdo!" Once-ler retorted sarcastically as he strapped on his electric guitar.

"You're bringing a guitar?" The Lorax questioned with a strange look on his face.

"Oh, yeah, oh I got a little jingle! Gonna blow some minds! Gonna sell some thneeds! Yeah!" Once-ler declared enthusiastically as he closed the door behind him.

* * *

><p>Once-ler was on his way to the town, following the forest path when he heard someone call his name.<p>

"Hey! Wait for me!" He turned around to see Mia running towards him, smiling. Once-ler couldn't help but chuckle at her expression.

"Are you really going to go and sell the thneeds?" She questioned, her eyes shining in excitement.

"Yep! It's gonna be great!" He exclaimed proudly.

"Wow, I bet they will be a huge success! I mean, it sounds really amazing!" She declared cheerfully and Once-ler couldn't help but feel even more proud at the compliment.

"Um… can I just ask…?" Mia started to trail off.

"Yeah sure, what's up?"

"Well… is it ok if I could… well, maybe come along with you? I mean, this is a really great thing to be happening and you would needing all the support you can get! By me!" Mia announced happily as she placed a hand on her chest. Somehow, Once-ler secretly found Mia's will to help him extremely cute and sweet, but he wouldn't dare admit it out loud.

"Heh, sure! Why not? I really do need all the support I need to sell this thneed!" He exclaimed out loud, making Mia giggle at the rhyme he made up.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" let's go!" Mia declared as the two walked off to the town together.


	7. Operation Selling Thneeds! (Day one)

Previously…

"Well… is it ok if I could… well, maybe come along with you? I mean, this is a really great thing to be happening and you would needing all the support you can get! By me!" Mia announced happily as she placed a hand on her chest. Somehow, Once-ler secretly found Mia's will to help him extremely cute and sweet, but he wouldn't dare admit it out loud.

"Heh, sure! Why not? I really do need all the support I need to sell this thneed!" He exclaimed out loud, making Mia giggle at the rhyme he made up.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" let's go!" Mia declared as the two walked off to the town together.

-Mia's POV-

After a long while of walking down the forest path, we had finally reached the town.

"Isn't this great! Look at all the people here! There's bound to be some customers coming up to me! Let's get started!" Once-ler exclaimed with energetic enthusiasm and he started to walk away to find a place to start selling thneeds, but I quickly stepped in front of him.

"Woah there, hold on Mr.! Where do you think you're going?" I gave a teasing smile, clasping my hands behind my back and leaned closer to him so his face was only a couple of inches away from mine. He looked about startled about our sudden physical distance.

"Uh… i-I'm gonna go and s-sell some thneeds?" He stuttered nervously. I could have sworn that he was starting to blush. Why though? It's not because I'm this close to him right? No… someone like him would not worry about something so trivial like that! Maybe it's hot today? Well, it is a really good summer's day… but maybe that's not it…

"Aren't you forgetting something?" I pressed on.

"Uh… n-no?" I notice that he felt a little uneasy and he had trouble looking right at my face. Aw… maybe I'm teasing him to much… I think I'm going to stop.

"You can't work on an empty stomach silly!" I laughed and I saw him give out a sigh of relief and the blush on his face disappeared.

"C'mon, I know a good place where they sell really yummy breakfast pancakes!" I stated as I took his hand in mine and started pulling him away

"H-hey wait, didn't we just eat breakfast before we got here?"

"You said breakfast was overrated, remember?" I giggled.

"Aw, c'mon Mia, The Lorax said that! besides, I don't feel hungry at a-" He was defending himself when I heard his stomach growling.

"So… not hungry huh?" I stated while laughing.

"Um… ok fine! Let's go!' Once-ler was embarrassed at first, but he started to laugh along with me.

-Regular POV-

Mia and Once-ler were sitting on a bench near the ice-cream shop and Mia's café. They were taking their time just relaxing, preparing for the long hours of selling thneeds that were ahead of them.

"Wow! The ice-cream here really is good!" Once-ler commented as he took another spoon of his ' Super mega marshmallow and cookie dough' ice-cream.

"What? You finished your first cone already!?" Mia questioned.

"Yeah! I mean, this stuff is good!" his voice was muffled between the chewing and crunching noise of eating his ice cream cone.

"Hey, do want some water? I can go buy some!"

"Yeah sure!" Once-ler replied. Mia went off to walk to the ice cream shop. A few minutes later, she left the shop with two bottles of water in hand but suddenly, she bumped right into a random stranger, which startled the stranger and made her drop her bag by accident, pieces of personal items rolling and spreading out on the surface of the stone ground.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! Here, let me help you!" Mia gasped and quickly knelt down to pick up the young woman's belongings.

"Thanks!" The woman replied back as she also started to pick up her belongings. As Mia was helping, she took time to look at the stranger in front of her. The woman was wearing a yellow, knee length sleeveless dress with light pink hemming at the end of her skirt. She was wearing white slipper shoes with flowers decorated on them, but the most extraordinary thing about the young woman was her dark black hair styled up in an extreme up-do, with each curl perfectly ironed out.

"Hey…" the woman pointed out, "Just out of curiosity, do you know a girl called Sherry?" Mia was a little bit confused at the question.

"Um, I think that there could be many people in this town that are called Sherry…"

"Sorry, I mean Sherry Sullivan to be specific…" Mia was a bit surprised at this answer.

"Yeah, I'm a friend of hers…" Mia started, but then she remembered her manners "Oh! How rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself!" Mia stated as she extended out her hand to the woman in front of her. "My name is Mia Redwood and yes, I'm a friend of Sherry…" The black haired woman in front of her gave a big and cheerful smile as she took Mia's hand and shook it.

"I'm Norma! It's really nice to meet you!" She greeted as she put her final belongings back in her bag.

On the way back to the bench where Once-ler was waiting, Norma decided to walk back with Mia. The two talked all about themselves, with a few laughs here and there between their conversations.

"How come Sherry never told me about you?"

"Well, I was actually her childhood friend and I only met her by chance three days ago! And the part where she never told you… I guess she kinda forgot…" Norma said sarcastically, which made Mia laugh at her humor.

"So, enough about me! What are you doing here in town?" Norma asked with curiosity.

"Ah, I'm here helping a friend with something…"

"What is it?"

"He's selling a product that he invented! Today is his first day of selling his invention!"

"Is it that guy over there with the pink scarf thingy?" Norma pointed. Mia turned to the direction where Norma was pointing at and saw Once-ler sitting on the bench and tuning his guitar, his expression showing to be set in deep concentration. Once he looked up and saw Mia, he immediately smiled and stood up to walk to her, taking his guitar with him.

"Hey Mia! Oh! Who's this?" he questioned as he pointed to her other new friend.

"Ok, Norma this is Once-ler, Once-ler this is Norma!" Mia introduced the two to each other and Norman took Once-ler's hand and shook it vigorously, with both of them saying a "Hi!" in unison.

"Hey Mia! I'm just gonna go and find a good place to sell thneeds! Wait here!" Once-ler declared as he ran off.

"Ok!" Mia called back after the disappearing back of Once-ler. Next to her, Norma waited until Once-ler was out of sight, before having a mischievous expression pass over her face as she turned to Mia.

"Gee, he's pretty cute!" Norma teased as she gently elbowed Mia's arm, "Is he your boyfriend?" Mia was somehow shocked about this question.

"What? No, he's just a really good friend…" She answered, but she was quickly cut off by Norma.

"Oh yeah… sure…"

"I really don't think about him at all!" Whoa! Where did that come from?

"Oh do you now? Funny thing is, I never said anything about you thinking about him…" Norma stretched out her reply slowly, her eyes glinting with mischievous light and her lips turning up into a smirk. "But actually… I say that you do the complete opposite of that…"

"N-Norma!" Mia stuttered, her hands flew up to her face to cover the developing blush on her cheeks. "Wow, I only met the woman today, and she is already teasing me! Sure, Norma is now my other new friend, but really!? It's like she's got a double personality! One moment she was all sweet and innocent at first glance and at the next moment, she's actually such a teaser and she is so…what's the word I'm looking for? Aha! Out there!" Mia thought to herself. Her thoughts were interrupted when Once-ler finally arrived back from his mini quest to find a good selling place.

"Hey Mia! I found a great place to sell thneeds!" he declared proudly, but he had a strange look on his face when he eyed the giggling black haired woman and the seemingly uneasy looking blonde. Wait, is Mia blushing?

"Uh, what are you guys talking about?" He said, feeling a little suspicious.

"Oh nothing! We were just talking about a really funny movie!" Norma butted in to cover up the embarrassing dilemma.

"Uh…Ok… Hey Mia! C'mon let's go! We can't let the customers waiting!" Once-ler's suspicion was brushed off as he grabbed Mia's hand and tugged it gently.

"Oh! Right! well, it was nice meeting you Norma, I hope we will… bump into each other next time?" Mia replied.

"Oh yeah sure! Bye! And good luck on selling your inventions!" Norma called out, then giving Mia a secret wink and mouthing out the words "Hope you guys have fun!", which embarrassed poor Mia all over again.

-Mia's POV-

Sometime later, we found a good place to sell thneeds, the town's central gazebo. I had helped Once-ler to plug up and connect his electric guitar to an amplifier that we had borrowed off someone. I took up a place at the back of the gazebo, sat back and watched Once-ler getting ready to sing his catchy Jingle. There was already a crowd forming within a few minutes!

"Good luck! You got this!" I exclaimed at Once-ler jokingly, earning a laugh from him. I then mouthed the words ' three, two, one and go!" then he started to sing.

"Everybody needs a thneed"

"A fine thing that all people need…"

In my opinion, he was pretty good, but just after singing halfway through, someone from the forming crowd threw a tomato at his face, and I gasped. The whole crowd started laughing at Once-ler and he had a look of utter shock and confusion on his face.

"Oh…" I breathed out a sigh. Just looking at his expression made my heart break a little. Even after that rude action, Onc-ler tried singing the song all over again, but he received a few more tomatoes at his face. This continued throughout the whole day.

"Mia, I'm fine, really I am! I can just go home and wash my clothes…"

By the time the crowd got bored and left, Once-ler was covered from head to toe in tomatoes. I had decided to help him wipe the tomato juice off his face, despite his protesting.

"No, Once-ler, this tomato juice is going to soak into clothes if you waited long enough and it will ruin them…" gently reassured him as I dabbed the tissue on his cheek. Once-ler would never admit this to Mia, but every time she brushed a finger over his cheek when cleaning off a spot of tomato, he couldn't help but shiver at the warm touch.

"Geez, am i acting like this? It's just Mia cleaning tomato off my face… with her soft, slender, warm fingers…"

Ok, he really need to stop thinking right now…

"Ok, that's as much as I can get off, but at least that will save you time in washing up your clothes…" Mia smiled as she helped to unplug the electric guitar from the amplifier. "C'mon, let's go…" She beckoned him to stand up and follow her. Once-ler picked up his guitar and followed suite. On the way home, the weather started to get a little chilly. Once-ler had started to notice that Mia had started to shiver beside him.

"Hey, you ok?" he asked, his voice tinted with concern.

"Ah! I mean, yeah I'm fine… it's just... this was my dad's scarf, but it's a little old and thin…"

"If it's not keeping you warm, why'd you wear it?"

"Because just wearing this scarf makes me feel like he's always there beside me…watching over me…" Mia trailed off, her tone hinted with sadness. Once-ler felt like slapping himself, "Great, I just made her sad… way to go Oncie…"

His thoughts were interrupted when Mia started to shiver again, but this time, her teeth started chattering slightly. Not wanting the poor girl to freeze, he slipped of his pink thneed scarf and started to wrap it around Mia's neck.

"W-wait O-onc-ler, what are y-you-" Mia jumped a little at the sudden action.

"You're cold, so I'm lending you my scarf…"

"But… what about you? Won't you get cold?"

"Nah… you need it more than I do…" Once-ler stated with a gentle smile. At those words, Mia's heart started to feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside and she was extremely touched at the action.

"Ok…" Mia replied as she settled her face into the scarf, covering her nose and mouth so that only the upper half of her face was present. She somehow looked extremely adorable in Once-ler's opinion.

"Hey… Thank you…" Mia spoke up and she gently leaned her on his shoulder. At the sudden action, Once-ler started feeling his heart beating a little faster and the air to get slightly warmer than before.

"N-no p-problem…" He tried to control himself from stammering and stuttering, but he failed to do so. He just smiled to himself as the two walked towards the forest.

He may had a bad start today, but at least Mia was there to brighten it up for him. With her around, he really didn't seem to mind.


	8. Operation Selling Thneeds! (Day Two)

Previously…

"Hey… Thankyou…" Mia spoke up and she gently leaned her on his shoulder. At the sudden action, Once-ler started feeling his heart beating a little faster and the air to get slightly warmer than before.

"N-no p-problem…" He tried to control himself from stammering and stuttering, but he failed to do so. He just smiled to himself as the two walked towards the forest.

He may had a bad start today, but at least Mia was there to brighten it up for him. With her around, he really didn't seem to mind.

* * *

><p>The sun's rays poured down into the Truffla Valley, reaching into every dark nook and cranny and giving the streams and rivers their reflective shine. Whatever remaining sunlight that was left poured into the lone caravan house.<p>

Once-ler had woken up just as the gentle light hit his eyes. In his sleepy state, he slowly sat up and scanned the room around him, remembering that surprising morning wake up call.

"Nope, no bears here…" He muttered to himself. He later checked under his blankets, his pillows and finally, under his bed for a certain guardian of the forest.

"Mr moustache fluffball is not here, so that's a good sign…" He sighed in relief and chuckled at the nickname for the Lorax. Once-ler was about to land back on his pillow to catch a few minutes of sleep to keep up with his energy for his busy day, when he remembered something else.

"Mia is going to come with me today…" his smile grew wider as the thought passed his mind and he suddenly felt much more awake than before. He threw off his blanket and quickly changed into his usual clothes before heading going to make breakfast.

He couldn't wait to start his work again today.

* * *

><p>It was Mia's work day today and she had woken up on time today…of course, she did have to make sure that her clock wasn't set to ring on the wrong time the night before. As she was making breakfast, she heard a soft rap on the window. She looked up from pouring milk into her cereal and saw Fuzz waving his paw at her and squeaking happily. Mia quickly put her cereal on the table and opened the window to let the small bear in.<p>

"Hey there, whoa! You're getting heavier every time I see you! "She exaggerated and giggled at the comment. She went over and put the bear down on a chair and gave him a Truffla fruit from the fruit bowl, while grabbing her strap purse bag in the process.

"Ok, you know the rules, if you wanna eat something, only take food from the ' Fuzz Cupboard ' Mia stated as she pointed to a small cupboard near the window, labelled in a small piece of paper and black marker, written ' Fuzz '. The small bear nodded in understanding.

"Ok I'm off to work then! Take care of yourself well ok? And look through the peep hole before opening the door if someone knocks! Bye!" Mia waved a goodbye as she left the kitchen. When she walked down the hallway and opened the front door, she was surprised to see Once-ler right in front of her. His hand was slightly hovered over the space where the door knob used to be, but as soon as he realized Mia was in front of him, he quickly pulled his hand behind his back and gave her one of his big smiles.

"Hey Mia! Ready to sell Thneeds again?" He asked, voice filled with enthusiasm. He expected Mia to reply back with a cheerful comment.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I forgot to tell you yesterday that I have work at my Café' today! I can't help you this time I'm afraid…"

"Aw… but maybe you can skip work for today? Just today?" Once-ler joked as he put up a puppy eyed act on Mia. The young blonde woman laughed at his expression.

"Honestly, you're just like the Barbaloots…" Mia continued to giggle, but Once-ler looked a bit confused.

"Wait, what's a Barbaloot?"

"The fuzzy brown creatures who live in Truffla valley… you know, the small bears?"

"Really? I thought they were just called bears? Brown, and really, really tiny bears… I've been calling them bears this whole time though…" Mia giggled again at Once-ler's little theory.

"Um, Once-ler? Can you move over a bit?"

"What? Oh! Yeah! Heh heh, sorry about that…" Once-ler felt flushed and moved aside for Mia to pass.

"Wait, so you're really not coming with me today?" He watched Mia taking out her bicycle before turning around to face him.

"Once-ler, I would really love to help you with anything! I wish I could just skip work today just to do that, but my work really important to me and I can't afford to skip out unless I have a very good reason to, or my boss decides that we could have a day off today…" Mia replied. She saw Once-ler gave out a guilty expression, which made herself feel guilty in turn. She suddenly thought up and idea and gave him a soft smile to reassure him.

"Hey… I'll promise to visit you between breaks though… is that ok?" at this suggestion, Once-ler immediately brightened up again.

"Yeah! That'll be great!" He smiled

"Ok that's good! Ah! I really have to go now!" Mia exclaimed as she quickly went on her bike and was about to set off before Once-ler called out to her.

"Hey! Wait! Just out of curiosity, this café that you work at, what is it called?"

"Crème la dreams! " She quickly answered. Mia waved a goodbye to Once-ler as she started to ride away. When Mia was out of sight, Once-ler whispered to himself.

"Huh… interesting…" He would keep that in mind so that he could visit Mia sometime

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, Once-ler was at the town square in the same white gazebo that he was yesterday. He began setting up his equipment, while chatting to his grey horse at the same time.<p>

"So… are you ready to watch my amazing guitar skills?

The horse rolled its eyes and snorted.

"Aw c'mon, a little comment would be nice! Besides, Mia likes my singing! She thinks I'm amazing!"

The Horse chose to ignore him and chew on a nearby patch of grass.

"Ah whatever…" He sighed as he adjusted the settings to his electric guitar and amplifier. Already, a crowd began forming around the gazebo, but Once-ler was too absorbed into his work to notice some of the crowd's growing smirks and snickers.

"Hey dude! Play your song for us!" A mean looking boy sarcastically stated. Once-ler, who was oblivious to this situation, took it as a nice friendly comment.

"Ok crowd! Here it goes!" Once-ler declared proudly as he started to sing his theme jingle. He was only still up to the chorus when someone had thrown a tomato at his face.

"You know what we need!? For you to stop!" A man's voice yelled out. Once-ler frantically looked around to try and find who the culprit was, but he was suddenly hit by another oncoming tomato. He stumbled and fell backwards at the impact.

"Yeah! You suck!" another man's voice had yelled. The crowd starting laughing at booing at him.

"Hey!" A feminine voice rang out. Once-ler turned to the sound of the voice and to his relief, saw Mia running towards him. She stood in front of Once-ler, her eyes shining with determination and hidden anger.

"Stop doing this to my best friend!" Mia exclaimed angrily, a type of tone and emotion that Once-ler would have never seen Mia in.

"Or what? What you gonna do about it Miss?" A random guy spoke up and other people snickered.

"Yeah! Why do you even hang out with this loser guy anyway?" A girl piped up. The crowd started to leave, obviously bored and didn't want to get involved in this mess. Once-ler watched the crowd disappear and his heart stung a bit at the comment, but he was even shocked of what Mia had said next.

"He is not a loser! He is the sweetest, nicest guy I've ever met!" She called out to the leaving crowd. Mia did not care how embarrassing that sentence would have sound at that time, she was willing to defend her friends and she would not tolerate anyone putting them down like that. Once-ler couldn't believe that Mia was actually defending him. If he could remember correctly, when he was younger, everybody had teased him and nobody would bother standing up for him. No one would be friends with him, which was why he wanted to make his dream invention, so that everyone would look up to him. His thoughts were interrupted when Mia extended a hand out to him to help him up.

"Hey, you ok?" She gave a soft smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine! Didn't hurt one bit!" Once-ler smiled sheepishly, attempting to cover up his true feelings. As Mia helped him up to his feet, she was suddenly whisked away by a random stranger.

"Hey there…" Mia was shocked at this person's sudden forwardness.

"Uh… hello?" She turned to get a good look at the stranger. The person had blonde slicked hair and was wearing a black leather jacket, along with a white shirt and jeans. His eyes were hidden behind black sunglasses. She realized this stranger as one of the group of guys who threw tomatoes at Once-ler on the first day.

"You know, this guy is a total loser and it looks like he's weighing you down… how about you come and hangout with me and my gang instead?"

"Ah…thank you for the offer, but he is my friend and I need to help him out…" Mia removed her hanf from the stranger's grip. She started to feel awkward, but she also felt suspicion brewing up.

"Aw c'mon, what if I told you I don't take no for an answer?" The stranger's tone was sickly sweet and he slid his arm around her waist. Mia tried to break free from his grip, but he held her firm.

"Mr, what are you doing!? Let me go right now!" The brewing suspicion started to turn into fear.

"Aw c'mon, I promise it's not gonna be that bad…" Once-ler had been watching the guy warily, but as soon as the stranger said that sentence, something inside of him snapped and he suddenly felt… Jealous? Angry? Protective? He couldn't tell, but all he knew was he was going to give that stranger a piece of his mind

"Hey!" Mia heard Once-ler calling out and she gave out a sigh of relief. He stormed right in front of the stranger.

"Just what do you think you're doing?"

"Hey dude, knock it off, it's just between me and this girl here…" This comment made Once-ler really mad.

"Well, this GIRL, says she doesn't want to go with you… so how about you just stop pressuring her leave her alone?" Once-ler may have been, as what some people have called him, a ' Dork ', but at least he knew when to stand up to someone in need of help.

"heh, whatever…" the stranger raised his hands in defence and started to walk away, but he suddenly turned around and swiftly punched the fedora wearing man in the face, which made Mia gasp. Poor Once-ler stumbled to the ground for the second time today and was shocked at the action. Mia immediately ran up to him and knelt down and held him in her arms.

"Your're a loser… nobody cares about you…" The guy retorted.

"Excuse me… is there a problem here?" A feminine voiced calmly spoke, close to where the stranger was standing. The stranger spun around, revealing a very concerned looking Norma.

"Oh nothing, I was knocking sense into this loser here…" The stranger motioned to Once-ler, who being gently cradled by Mia. Norma gasped as she realized what the stranger meant, before her eyes narrowed. You could see a dangerous flicker across her dark brown eyes.

"You take that back…" She warned, folding her arms in front of her chest.

"What are you gonna do about it?" The blonde stranger taunted, oblivious of the mistake that he had made.

"If you don't apologized to my friends, I will personally go up to you in public and slap you on the face…" Norma stretched each word slowly to intimidate him even more, then her face suddenly appeared happy again "Got that?"

"Alright, alright! I'm sorry! Geez…" It was the suddenly happy yet creepy expression on Norma's face that scared the man. Mia was stunned of what Norma had done. She wouldn't believe that Norma was such a spunky person! When the man left, Mia turned her attention back at her injured friend in her arms.

"Are you okay? Where does it hurt? Do you need medicine? Bandages?" Mia asked, her voice full of concern. Once-ler managed a weak laugh.

"Hah ha… that's the second time you've asked me that today…" He joked and smiled. Mia could see right through that lie because Once-ler winced in pain when he tried to smile.

"Once-ler… don't try to hide it…" Mia whispered in a weak laugh. He could've sworn that her voice was shaky, like she was crying… on the inside. He looked up into her eyes, the shade of a sparkling sky blue making him feel relaxed. He felt stupid for making her feel upset, so he might as well be honest with her.

"Okay… to be honest, my face hurts like I just got hit by a frying pan from a crazy blonde girl with a pet chameleon…" Mia winced, but this made her giggle.

"Okay, how about I take you back to my café, I could tend to your face before my shift starts again…" Once-ler nodded and started to get up, with Mia and Norma supporting him.

* * *

><p>The trio were sitting at a three seated table at Crème La Dreams. Well, Mia had went back to work again, so basically, it was just Norma and Once-ler sitting together. He had explained everything about the events that had happened earlier, with Norma listening carefully. At some points of the conversation, she would wince when Once-ler mentioned about the weird and creepy blonde stranger.<p>

"Gee, all of that started from one single guitar song? Wow… that's just… wow…"

"Yeah I know…"

"…"

Silence

"…"

More silence

"So… Is Mia your girlfriend?" Norma questioned teasingly. Once-ler was caught off guard at both the change of subject and question that he almost spat out the chocolate and marshmallow milkshake he was drinking.

"W-wha? What do you mean?"

"You heard me…"

"N-no! She is not my girlfriend! We are just friends! Nothing more!" He started to regret adding that last part of the sentence.

"But you love her, don't you?"

"Well, o-of course! I l-love all of my friends!" Once-ler exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air for emphasis. Normally, people would have taken this as one of Once-ler's goofball moments, but Norma could see that he was using this as a cover up.

"Right…" Norma drawled out. A still blushing Once-ler decided to ignore this conversation and continued drinking his milkshake.

The two talked all afternoon until Mia finally came to their table.

"Hey guys!" She greeted them, whipping off her waitress apron and throwing it at a nearby apron stand before taking a seat next to Once-ler. "My shift is over for the day, so I can relax! What are you guys talking about?"

"Oh… nothing, just…stuff…" Norma giggled. Mia gave Norma a strange look, but she brushed the feeling off.

"Okay… well, it's getting late and I better get home now... bye Norma!" Chippered Mia. Once-ler nodded and he stood up to follow Mia.

"Ah! And Norma, don't forget to tell Katrina that if she needs help at Dan's Diner, she can call me up anytime!"

* * *

><p>Mia and Once-ler were walking home, down the local Truflla valley forest path. Once-ler had somehow managed to get Mia's bicycle strapped securely on his grey horse. After all, the bike itself was lighter in weight. The walk was silent, until Once-ler decided to speak up.<p>

"Hey… it may be a bit late to say this but…thanks for defending me back there…"

"Don't mention it! Anyone would have done that, right?" Mia smiled.

"Psh, no, not really…"

"Aw… what makes you think so?"

"Well, everything that I do, I never seem to impress anyone at all…"

"Really?"

"Well, yeah… My Dad thinks I can't do anything, my twin brothers Brett and Chett keep teasing me all the time, my mum had no faith in me at all and Aunt Grizelda completely just doesn't care what I do, as long as it benefits her…" He sighed sadly and gazed at the ground "And to top it all off, I tried to come up with the perfect invention when I was at school, but everybody just laughed at me and said that whatever I made would be a useless flop…"

At his confession, Mia did really feel like tearing up. This sweet guy next to her would do anything to impress anyone, to get respect and to get anyone to see that he is not useless. Even though that sometimes, the odds were all against him. He keeps saying that he is useless when in reality, he just doesn't see that his actions could have an impact on people in a good way… especially with her…

He just doesn't see it yet…

"Well… I think that you are an amazing person… the way that I see it is that you are not a failure at all! Whatever happens, I will always have faith in you…" Mia smiled softly, then she took his hand in hers, causing the young man to stutter and blush.

"I, promise…"

It took nearly everything in Once-ler's willpower to keep himself from crying. Instead, he swept Mia up in a bear hug. The young woman was stunned at the sudden action, but she got used to it and embraced him back

"Thanks a lot… I really mean it… That's nicest thing that anyone has said to me in years…"

* * *

><p>*Bonus Ending*<p>

Upon their arrival at the Truffla valley, The lorax was the first to greet the trio.

"Hey Mia! Beanpole! I heard rumours that your selling went downh- Whoa! What an earth happened to your face!? It looks like you've been kicked by a very 'Speck on flower 'protective elephant!"

"Wow… thanks for lifting my spirits up old man…"


	9. Operation Selling Thneeds! (Day Three)

"I, promise…"

It took nearly everything in Once-ler's willpower to keep himself from crying. Instead, he swept Mia up in a bear hug. The young woman was stunned at the sudden action, but she got used to it and embraced him back

"Thanks a lot… I really mean it… That's nicest thing that anyone has said to me in years…"

A new day was starting, signaling the third day into Thneed selling. Knowing the drill, Once-ler woke up as early as possible, ate breakfast, gathered his equipment onto his horse and went straight for the town. Mia had promised him that she would see him during her work breaks at the town and told him that he didn't have to visit her in the morning.

But being the type of person he is, he just decides to go see her anyway. It kind of became a habit to visit her every day in the morning. Once-ler didn't know why he even bothered to go over to someone's house every day to see them. He didn't bother with other people, he just waits for them to come over instead… But somehow, when it comes to Mia, he would like to think of it as some magical entity pulling him towards her and give him the motivation the come visit her… or was it something else?

"This is probably the Truffla sprite Fiora playing tricks on me…" He sighed to himself when mentioning a legend as old as time itself.

"Oh well.. Can't make the people of the town waiting! Again…"

Mia had already woken up and was now riding her bike down the forest path to the town. Her mind was whirring with thoughts.

"Yesterday's events may not have ended well… but I can't keep myself in the past! Cause, who knows! The future might become brighter for all of us! Especially for Once-ler! Gosh, I've been thinking about him a lot lately… I pray that he doesn't get injured this time… or maybe for less tomatoes to be thrown at him… or-"Mia's thoughts were cut off when something on the side of the forest path caught her eye. She halted into a stop and settle her bike at a nearby bush to go over to the area where she had seen whatever it was she saw. When she got closer the something, she realized that it was a piece of a brown leather embroidered with intricate golden designs. She suddenly remembered that this piece of leather came from a book cover.

It all started coming back to her…

"Daddy, Daddy! Let's set the picnic up here!" A little blonde girl exclaims with excitement. A middle aged man with the same blonde shade of blonde hair followed behind her, carrying a picnic basket and a rug on one hand, and a brown leather book, which had a bit of leather coming of the corners in the other.

"Okay, Okay! That is a good place!" The man chuckled at his daughter's excitement. He set down the picnic basket and began laying out the rug. He started to take out the food and placed the brown book on top of the picnic basket. The little girl immediately went for the first food that was taken out, which was a peanut butter and honey sandwich and began eating.

"Wow! This is good! Mummy makes such good sandwiches!" The little girl chippered. The man smiled as he picked out his own sandwich and began eating. After finishing her lunch and dessert, the girl stared at the book with curiosity, before speaking up.

"Hey daddy… what's in that book?"

"Oh, this?" The man smiled and he picked up the book "This book holds daddy's secret treasures…"

"Wow, really!? Can I see?"

"Of course…" The man slowly opened the book, taking care when leafing through the pages. When he finally found a page he was looking for, he showed it to his daughter.

"You see this?"

"Wow! It's a drawing of a house! It looks so pretty!"

"This house, will one day be our dream holiday house… I'm built it especially for you and mummy…" At the mention of this, the little girl's eyes sparkled.

"Really? For us!? Where is it going to be daddy? Where is it going to be? Since when?"

"Follow me, I'll show you… I've been building this house since you were born… I also decide to keep it as a surprise and tell you when you were older…" The man took his daughter's hand and guided her through a series of bushes. After a few minutes of walking, they finally reached the other side of the bushes, and was greeted by the most amazing and beautiful view they've ever seen. A wide valley dotted with coloured, fluffy topped trees that looked silky to the touch. The little girl could also pick up the faint scent of butterfly milk, a scent that she loved so much.

"You see that river?" The father pointed to a river, a huge waterfall following the end of it. The little girl could see what was left of a half built wooden structure on the side of the river.

"Yeah!"

"That's where I'm going to build the house!"

"Wow I see it! This is the best gift ever! Thank you daddy!" The little girl squealed as she leapted into her father's arms he gave his daughter a big hug.

"Anything for my family and my dear little Mia…"

Mia just stood there, staring into space, with a piece of leather in her hands. She could hear the soft breeze weaving through the trees, whispering the voices that still faintly played in her memory.

Mia shook her head and went over to put the piece of leather in her bike basket. With the memory playing faintly in her mind, she set off again towards the town and picked up the pace when she realized that she might be late.

*Once-ler's POV*

I finally arrived into the town! I come here often that I memorized where the gazebo was off by heart.

Here we are, the third day of selling my thneed! Surely if I hadn't succeeded before, everything would turn out fine right? It can't possibly get any worse… I mean, how bad could it possibly be?

I decided that the first thing to do before I start was to get myself a snack… and I know exactly the place! I told my horse strict rules that he has to guard my stuff, with a reward of apples at the end.

"Hmmm… Crème La dreams…" I thought out loud, walking and passing by each shop. This town seems small and quiet from the outside, but it's actually really busy.

"Aha! Found it!" I proudly exclaimed and pushed open the door, hearing a tinkling bell at the same time.

Wow, this café was pretty cool… it's kinda like a mini French café mixed, but even bigger! I took a seat near the window and found a menu on the table for me. Maybe I would order something… something… with marshmallows! Gee, just thinking about marshmallows make me hungry…

*Mia's POV*

I was always on my toes, moving from table to table on no end with trays of food in my hands. I served a customer their lunch and gave them a sweet smile.

"Here you go! Enjoy your food!" I went back to the counter to speak to the chef if there were any more orders left, but he said that I should wait for a while as everyone already has their food.

"Hey Mia! Come over here!" Sherry said in a harsh whisper "There's this really cute eye out there! He's even wearing a fedora and a vest and everything! Now THAT, is style!" I immediately recognize the description of the stranger.

"Ah! That's Once-ler!"

"What? You know that guy?"

"Yes, I do, were friends!"

"Lucky girl…" Sherry muttered. "Oh wait look! He's calling out for a waitress!"

"What? Oh! That's my cue!" I exclaimed and quickly went over to his table and tried sneaking up to him.

*Once-ler's POV*

I was calling out for a waitress to come over. Nobody did, so I tried again.

"Um, excuse me? Can I get a- oh…" my sentenced faltered when a waitress ignored me. I kept calling out to random waitresses, when I suddenly felt a presence behind me.

"May I take your order?" a voice breathily whispered into my ear. I did not know why, but the tone in that sentence and the feeling of hot breath of the speaker on my skin made me shiver… but it wasn't an un-pleasant one… it was… wow…

Out the corner of my eye, I see a pair of peach pink coloured lips. My eyes followed up to see Mia right behind me, smiling. Realizing who it was, I felt my face grow hot. I would have not expected her tone of voice sounding so…so… let's just say that I would have never expected Mia to sound like that… or even be capable for her voice to match her actions… ok, now I'm starting to think in the wrong direction too much…

"Once-ler? Are you Okay? You seem a little out of it…" At the sound of Mia's gentle tone, I snapped up straight and tried to put on my biggest smiles.

"What? No. I'm fine! I was just thinking about something!" I laughed loudly a sheepishly scratched the back of my neck.

Yeah… thinking about the tingly feeling of her hot breath on my skin… Oh boy… Being near Mia really does have an effect on you… or is it just me?

"As I was saying, what would you like to order?"

"Erm, I w-would like to order… the Marshmallow pancakes!" I blurted out loud. I was really stuttering, so I blurted out any food that had marshmallows involved, I don't even know if marshmallow pancakes existed.

"Yep! One Marshmallow pancakes, coming right up!" Mia replied with a smile. Oh, so they do exist… huh…

*Regular POV*

After thanking Mia for the delicious snack, Once-ler left Crème La Dreams to finally start his work of Thneed selling. As soon as he arrived, he saw that his guitar and amplifier were safe. He took out a small apple from his pocket and gave to his horse, praising its guarding skills.

While he was setting up his equipment, a crowd already began forming, whispering about 'The weird guy from yesterday who sings sucky music" A few passersby had amused looks on their faces as soon as they saw the black haired man, and even stopped by to watch at the forming spectacle.

Once-ler strapped the guitar on his shoulder, took a deep breath and finally began singing.

Once-ler had attempt to sell Thneeds all morning. He was actually coming close to selling his thneed at one time. A middle aged woman had come by, seemingly interest with the mass of fluffy material wrapped around his neck. Once-ler was going to strike his first successful deal to his first customer, until the woman's nephew threw a tomato at his face. Instead of scolding her nephew, the woman laughed along with her nephew as she walked away, muttering about how foolish he was. He felt hurt when he played back the woman's laugh in his mind. It was not a kind laugh, but it was a teasing, sarcastic and mocking tone, reminding him of Aunt Grizelda. He was going to take a break, but then somehow, Mia made his way into his mind. Her gentle, sweet smile and her sweet and kind laugh that sounded like music to his ears.

"The way that I see it is that you are not a failure at all!" He remembered her saying that to him yesterday.

Just thinking about Mia alone gave him a small, but strong boost of motivation to not give up just yet… for now…

He continued to play his theme jingle, trying to dodge incoming tomatoes. All that tomato throwing for the past two days has really made him to develop an ability of dodging them. Whatever happened, he kept singing.

The Thneed is good!

The Thneed is-

That's when everything went downhill…

While he was busy singing another part of his theme jingle, he didn't realize a little girl walking up to him. She had the most innocent look in her eyes, so Once-ler thought that she wanted to move closer to hear his singing better… No harm done right?…

Wrong…

Then out of the blue, the little girl's innocent expression turned spiteful and she suddenly pulled the guitar out of his arms with surprising strength. The crowd cheered at her action, shouting out for her to do her job. With nod and a flicker of wicked nature in her eyes, she swung the electric guitar to the gazebo pillar, breaking and smashing the instrument. The crowd cheered even louder, even clapping at the fact there would be no more singing from an idiot.

Once-ler stared at his guitar in stunned silence and slid down onto floor and knelt right in front of the wreckage, slowly picking up the pieces and examined them. The guitar couldn't be fixable, so he would have to get a new one… but then he realized how much it actually cost to get his hands on one in the first place.

He decided that he was done for the day.

*Mia's POV*

"Ok everyone! You all have done an excellent job at your work today! You may leave! And have a good afternoon!" Crème La Dream's boss announced as the workers all went out the door.

"Finally, another day of work gone successful! I wonder how Once-ler is holding up…"

I walked around until I finally found the gazebo. I looked around and saw Once-ler sitting down on the steps, hunching over.

"Hey! How did it go? Did you get a good d- Oh my gosh! Y-Your guitar!" I gasped in shock.

"I know…" The young man sighed sadly.

"What happened?"

"A little girl smashed it at the gazebo… now I can't play my guitar, I would just have to use my singing voice alone…" He continued. Mia watched Once-ler walk over to a nearby trash can and dumping the remains of the guitar next to it before walking away.

"Once-ler!" She gasped again "That's… that's…You love that guitar!"

The fedora wearing man sighed as he turned around and walked towards Mia and pulled her into an embrace before letting go again.

"Hey, I know how much you are worried about me, but what much can I do about it? It's broken now…" He whispered. I gazed into his blue eyes, before averting them to the ground.

"I'm sorry…" I whispered. I felt gloved fingers gently touching her face and lightly brushing away a strand of hair covering my eyes.

"Hey, it's not your fault…" He gave a gentle smile as he moved his hand away from my face "C'mon, I think we should go home…"

"Okay…" I replied "But you can go on without me, there's something I have to do first…"

"You sure?"

"Sure…" I smiled. He packed up his equipment and took his horse with him as I waved a goodbye. When Once-ler was out of sight, I walked over to the trash can where the remains of his guitar lay. I stared at the half broken instrument, trying to find out what I could do with it.

"Hmmm… even though he doesn't want it anymore… it's a shame really… his passion was basically music! If only there was something I could do…"

Then, an idea hit me…

With a new idea in my mind, I gathered up the half broken electric guitar and took it with me to my destination.

Mia opened the door of the shop, the soft tinkling of the door bell ringing softly.

"Hello? Mike? Are you here?" I called out. Suddenly, a young man with messy red hair popped up from behind one of the music stands, surprising the blonde.

"Hiya! Welcome to Mike's Music Shop! Where you will find the perfect beat to your heart, the sweetest music to your soul- oh hey Mia! What are you doing here?"

"Uh, Mike… I need to ask a big favor for you…"

"Yeah sure, what's up?"

"This…" Mia place the broken guitar on to the front desk and the red head in front of her winced.

"Okay, hold up… I don't understand… do you want me to give this away to charity or something? No offence Mia, but it looks like junk!"

"No! i-I need you to fix this for me…"

"Why? You don't play guitar… well, not anymore…"

"It's for a friend, he was playing the guitar at the gazebo today, but a mean little girl smashed it…"

"Wait, are you talking about that guy who keeps trying to sell something called thneed!? HAH! I've heard of him! Man, that guy seems like a total nut case…" Mia gave her friend a serious look, which made Mike's sentence falter.

"Um… sorry…"

"Look, he loves this guitar! Music is basically his passion! This guy is amazing… he helped me once, no, many times! And he doesn't even want anything in return! It's just… when he feels sad… I just can't let that happen… I want to make him happy again…" Mia's cheeks started to grow warm "I know that I'm asking for too much, but can you fix this guitar for him? In four days maybe? I'll even pay you double the price!"

Mike was in stunned silence. He lifted his hand up to take his sunglasses off and cleaned them on his shirt, before putting them back on again.

"Wow, don't you have any faith in me Mia? I'll get it done by tonight after dinner, free of charge… I'll deliver it by your door so you can give it to your friend" He replied with a smile. Being a childhood friend of Mia's, Mike knew her all too well and he was happy that she had found someone who cared about her back. He loved seeing her happy.

"What!? Really!? Oh my gosh, thank you so much!" I leaped into her friend's arms and gave him a tight hug before letting go and running out the door.

"I'll treat you to my special cupcakes from now on!" I called out.

"I'll be looking forward to it!" Mike replied back.

Once-ler had spent his after dinner time sitting by a pond near his house. He was still kinda internally mourning over the loss of his guitar.

"Hey Beanpole! Where's your guitar?" The Lorax walked over to Once-Ler and plopped down next to him.

"Uh… I decided to take a break from it…"

"Oh really? Well okay then…" The Lorax got up and started to walk away. "By any chance, do you know where Mia is?"

"She's said she's off to do something first…"

"Okay… well, I'm gonna go and rest early, and I think you should do too if you wanna sell any thneeds!"

"Yeah… right…" Once-ler muttered, but he decided to go home anyway, there was nothing to do after all.

As he was near enough to see the front of his house, he noticed something odd on his front door. As he finally reached his front door, he realized that the odd something was a large box. He examined the box from each side and found a piece of paper stuck on the lid. Upon close inspection, he realized it was a note and he started to read.

"Okay, before you say 'who the heck are you? ', don't take it personally dude. I may have fixed this, but thank Mia, it was all her idea. I just want to thank you for making my best friend feel happy…

Sincerely, Mia's friend who you know nothing about

P.S. even if I don't know you… we're cool right?

P.P.S. Mia told me to make some modifications to suit to your taste… hope ya don't mind…

Curious, Once-ler slowly opened the box. When he fully flipped it opened, he could not believe what was inside.

Comforted and cushioned by foam, laid a newly polished red twin electric guitar. He could see some resemblance of his old electric guitar, using the same strap and the colour scheme was similar. He picked up the guitar and strapped it on. He gingerly gave the guitar a twang and to his amazement, it sounded exactly the same. He suddenly felt a burst of happiness well up from his heart and it took everything in his will power to not scream for joy into the darkening sky.

If Mia was here, he would have kissed her right on the spot…

…okay, maybe not kiss… but he would hug her and not let go for a long time…


End file.
